The Depths · All albums

Heaven or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins · 1990

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 1, Complexity 1 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Rock, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock
• Mood: radiant, dreamy, uplifting
• Sound: wordless vocals, shimmering guitars, melodic bass, reverb-heavy production, lush textures

Heaven or Las Vegas is the Cocteau Twins album where Elizabeth Fraser's wordless, glossolalic singing becomes clearer and the rhythms more syncopated. The band produced it themselves at September Sound in Twickenham, with each session starting from Robin Guthrie's drum programming and Guthrie and Simon Raymonde writing the music before Fraser recorded her vocals. It was made around the birth of Fraser and Guthrie's daughter, and several songs centre on her. Most of the lyrics are still hard to make out, and many of the unusual instrumental effects come from guitars instead of synthesisers.

Track list

1. Cherry-Coloured Funk (3:12)
2. Pitch the Baby (3:14)
3. Iceblink Luck (3:18)
4. Fifty-Fifty Clown (3:10)
5. Heaven or Las Vegas (4:58)
6. I Wear Your Ring (3:29)
7. Fotzepolitic (3:30)
8. Wolf in the Breast (3:31)
9. Road, River and Rail (3:21)
10. Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires (5:37)